So, last night, Windows Phone 8 got its first update - specifically for the HTC 8X. In this day and age, where iOS is the gold standard and shows the industry how it ought to be done, and Android is the exact opposite, Windows Phone 7 was a bit of an in-between - every phone got every update, but the staggered rollout was slow and frustrating, often due to carrier meddling. How will Windows Phone 8 fare?

That's not always true. People have waited months, despite owning a Nexus device, to have the latest version of Android pushed down to them. The fairy tale, because that's what it really is, a fairytale, that Nexus devices get updates on day #1 is getting old.

To contrast, when Windows Phone 7.5 came out, it rolled out to every device, across every carrier, in every country. Without a hitch.

Very little apps are impacted by the WiFi fix, because very little apps run under lockscreen, since 7.5 it hasn't been recommended to run under Lock screen. Instead, you just support Fast App Switching and Fast App Resume and call it a day.

About the only apps that I can see having a meaningful impact by this are apps that 1) Transmit data in the background like an Audio Streaming app, or 2) Apps that would like a persistent transport connection to be maintained.

Neither are very common. This is a low impact change, and it's opt-in, so it's not even default behavior. Its more to appease some power users.